Our Top 10 Escape The Fate Songs introduce us to a band that draws inspiration from diverse genres of music while becoming a great rock band. Guitarist Bryan Monte Money brought together artists from different bands to establish Escape the Fate in 2004. The band had quite some humble beginnings but would later use the members’ skills and experience to create a reputation for Escape the Fate. Escape the Fate would become the winners in a local radio contest in 2005 judged by the rock band My Chemical Romance. Following this, the band landed an opportunity to open a show on My Chemical Romance’s tour alongside Reggie and the Full Effect and Alkaline Trio. Escape the Fate attracted the attention of Epitaph Records following their awe-inspiring performance on tour and an impressive self-released EP demo.
The band went on to release its debut EP Dying Is Your Latest Fashion in May 2006, releasing the debut album under the same title four months later. Change in the band lineup was inevitable, with some members citing personal reasons and some getting fired, such as Radke, whose position was taken by former Blessthefall member Craig Mabbitt. Escape the Fate went on to release several albums, with their most recent being Chemical Warfare (2021). The band draws influence from reputable artists such as Guns N’ Roses, Linkin Park, Led Zeppelin, Metallica, and Aerosmith. Here are our top 10 Escape the Fate songs from the band’s seven studio albums.
#10 – My Apocalypse
Opening our top 10 Escape the Fate songs is the ballad “My Apocalypse” from the band’s 2006 album Dying Is Your Latest Fashion. Written by the band members, “My Apocalypse” features hard rock and metal vibes. The song allows the band ‘showcase the gifted vocalists they have thanks to the sublime singing and growling it features. Metallica would release a song with a similar title (but not similar lyrics) two years later, having it win a Grammy for the Best Metal Performance in 2009.
#9 – This War Is Ours (The Guillotine II)
“This War Is Ours (The Guillotine II)” is a magnificent rock from the band’s 2008 album This War Is Ours. The song will get you hyped up almost indefinitely thanks to its electrifying instrumental, especially on the drumming and guitar. As usual, the band brings both sublime vocals and screams on board to have you hooked to the rhythm from beginning to end. How the band shifts from sublime singing to breathtaking growls in this song is just out of the world!
#8 – Gorgeous Nightmare
The ballad “Gorgeous Nightmare” is featured on the band’s 2010 eponymous album. Written by the band members, the song’s title itself is a paradox that signifies pleasure in pain. From the lyrics, we can find that the narrator is madly in love with a woman who is a complete mess. However, all that the subject woman does seems to mesmerize the man making him glued to her. The song is a roadmap of how we meet broken people who hurt us, but we still love them so deep.
#7 – Ungrateful
“Ungrateful” is an album-titled song from the band’s 2013 album. Drummer Ortiz revealed in an interview that the song was penned initially as a ‘middle finger’ to the haters. However, the band would use the song to make a more powerful declaration than what they just felt. The band named their 2013 album after this song having the album embody all that Escape the Fate had done wrong and opportunities they wasted.
#6 – Picture Perfect
Also from the band’s 2013 album Ungrateful is the ballad “Picture Perfect.” The song was inspired by the death of Monte Money’s childhood friend. The band’s vocalist Craig Mabbitt revealed that the song is about losing someone you hold special in your life that even if you closed your eyes, you could easily and perfectly pain their image. “Picture Perfect” received a quite positive reception from critics having it strike on our deep emotions that are brought about by the loss of what we hold dear at heart.
#5 – The Flood
“The Flood” is an upbeat ballad featured on the band’s 2008 album This War Is Ours. Escape the Fate collaborated with producer John Feldman in composing the song. Having Ronnie and Craig together on Escape the Fate might have been the best gift that the band ever had. Their vocals are nothing less than sublime, making them the perfect duo vocals for Escape the Fate. “The Flood” is remembered by many for the magnificent performance the band delivers for the song’s official video.
#4 – Something
Number four on our top 10 list is the ballad “Something” from the band’s 2008 album This War Is Ours. Written by the band members, the song’s lyrics allude to a relationship that one knows is ailing, but both wish to make it work. However, they all want something more than their sad situation, making the narrator wish he never got involved with the person. While most of the best Escape the Fate songs have put the vocalists in the spotlight, you can help but notice how much drummer Slash adds glamour to this song with his sublime drumming skills. The guitar riffs as the song approach the end might also give you goosebumps!
#3 – Not Good Enough for Truth in Cliché
“Not Good Enough for Truth in Cliché” is one of the best Escape the Fate songs from the band’s album Dying Is Your Latest Fashion. Written by the original lineup of Escape the Fate, the song lyrics are a narration on a ridiculous relationship the meets its end with the death of those involved. Some have gone to propose that it was Ronnie’s girlfriend who killed herself after depression, blaming him for the whole torment.
#2 – Broken Heart
Betrayal and sadness are some of the tough matters we are almost definitely to encounter in our lives. Escape the Fate gave their narration of the same in “Broken Heart,” a sad but superb song from the band’s 2018 album I Am Human. The song’s lyrics allude to working through a tough emotional breakup, with the relief only coming when one moves on. “Broken Heart” combines some pop-punk influences with post-hardcore vibes to bring out a perfect song worth mentioning on the top 10 Escape the Fate songs. The song peaked at number fifteen on the Billboard Mainstream Rock Songs chart.
#1 – Situations
Number one on our top 10 Escape the Fate songs list is the ballad “Situations” from the band’s album Dying Is Your Latest Fashion. The song’s lyrics allude to a cheating husband tagging the confrontation he had with the woman about it along. Sadly, the girlfriend seems insignificant to the guy having the guys state that he is only under her control only when he wants to get intimate with her. The song’s last line of the chorus supplies the album title. The video imitates Van Halen’s legendary “Hot For Teacher,” video from the beginning with Waldo boarding the bus all the way through to the end.
Photo: Derrick Austinson Photog, CC BY-SA 2.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0>, via Wikimedia Commons